Up The Mainstream

Hello,

Thank you for emailing me with your thoughts and questions about Sarah
Palin. Some of you have waited for days for my reply; I apologize for
my slow response, but I have received over 12,000 emails and I have
just not been able to keep up!

Who am I?
I am the writer of an email dated 8/31/08 about Sarah Palin that
“went viral”. SOME PEOPLE HAVE RECENTLY RECEIVED A DISTORTED,
EDITED
VERSION OF THIS EMAIL. I urge you to go to the website listed below
to
see what I actually wrote (with an addendum I wrote on Sept 9th), or
see below.

http://community.adn.com/adn/node/130537.

On Sept 4th, I asked the Anchorage Daily News if they would post on
their website my original email. I asked them to do this for several
reasons: 1) they are the largest newspaper in Alaska, 2) they are
not
aligned with either party, 3) I was being told that people were
changing
what I wrote, and 4) --importantly--they know me. When I go to City
Council meetings there is always a reporter from the Anchorage Daily
News there; they can verify that I am a resident of Wasilla and
frequently to go City Council and other meetings.

I HAVE NEVER BLOGGED. I DO NOT HAVE A WEBSITE. If you find other
things with my name attached, it is campaign dirty tricks.

I am not working for either campaign, however, by now I assume they
both are aware of my letter. I am not an official spokesperson for
any
group. Nobody connected with either campaign suggested that I write
my
email, nobody has paid me, and nobody has asked me to stop answering
my
email. Sitting next to my keyboard as I type, however, is the most
beautiful bouquet of flowers which were sent to me by a total stranger
in
Conneticut in appreciation for the time I put into writing it!

I am a fiscal conservative and social liberal. I believe that
government serves an important function in society: doing for the
common good
what individuals and the private sector cannot. Primary government
responsibilities include infrastructure and guardianship of our
rights.

I am a real person. You might have seen me on NBC’s Nightly News
with Brian Williams, the Today Show, and Good Morning, America. You
might
have heard me on NPR, ARS Pacifica, and several satelite radio
programs.

How & why did I write my email?
My piece about Sarah Palin evolved over a 3 day period in response to
questions I got from friends and relatives who live outside Alaska.
By
the afternoon of the 3rd day I was getting replies from friends of
friends of friends--in other words, people who didn't know me--and
they
were asking "Who are you?" and "Why did you write this?", so I added
those sections to my email and then sent it out to about 30 people on
my
email list with whom I had not yet communicated. Within a couple of
hours a friend of a friend of a friend posted it AGAINST MY WISHES on
a
website. From there, it was posted on numerous other websites.

I had no idea it would "go viral". For years, I had drafted PTA
newsletters that went electronically to hundreds of people, and THEY
never
went viral! In fact, I have reason to believe most of the time they
weren’t even read! ha!

How do I know anything?
I have been a Wasilla resident since 1981. I went to many City Council
meetings, because in 1996-7 I was the author of a new chapter in the
city of Wasilla Municipal Code, and it took a year to shepherd this
new
code through the City Council. (It passed unanimously). After that,
I
went to meetings periodically: when there was something on the agenda
of interest to me and around election-time.

What’s happening?
I am inundated with email, but I am still trying to reply to as many as
I can; I am way behind. I’m sorry for the length of this, but with
over 12,000 emails I’ve had to draft an “omnibus” reply.

How can you verify the truth of what I wrote?
Many people have asked me if what I have written is true. Your request
for facts to check is appropriate and fair, however with over 12,000
emails to answer, I do not have the time to supply all the information
you would need to substantiate everything I have written. I have
become
aware of some factual, grammatical, and personal errors which are
identified in the addendum, but none of these errors substantially
change
what I wrote. These errors are addressed in the addendum to my email
which is posted on the Anchorage Daily News website referenced above.

I have been interviewed by many newspapers, and NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN.
I have supplied them with all the names of the individuals involved,
etc. so they could fact-check what I wrote. I suggest that you go to
the following sites to check out those parts of what I have written
that
the mainstream media has been able to put together reports on so far.
I am so impressed with the reporters I’ve met; they are literally
working around the clock to get to get up to speed.

A story dense with facts and information about Sarah Palin's first 6
months as Mayor can be found at:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008163431_palin070.html

A more comprehensive look at her terms as Wasilla’s Mayor and her 20
months as governor can be found in a NY Times story that appeared
9/14/08, and can be accessed at the website below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1221415398-aXQkakmNv2hz9SVPQ1KEuw

ABOUT THE LIBRARY/CENSORSHIP ISSUE. . . .

Below is a link to a segment from Good Morning, America on 9/10/08,
which covers the attempted library censorship and attempted firing of
the
librarian. It is accurate to the best of my knowledge, however I
can’t confirm or deny that the named books were the target(s).

http://www.acakadut.com/videos/v-VcdqcXZ1jqU/Ross-on-Palin-ABC-09-10-09.html

Did the Mayor ask the Librarian about removing books from the Wasilla
Public Library?
Yes. I was a witness to one of the occasions on which Mayor Palin asked
the Librarian about removing books from the collection.My recollection
was that Mayor Palin stated that there were books in the library that
shouldn’t be there, and she asked the Librarian what the procedure
was for removing books from the collection.

Stories in the Anchorage Daily News & Frontiersman newspapers
report
that Mayor Palin asked such a question. Snopes reports that the
McCain
campaign also acknowledges that she did this.

Was there a list of books?
Not as far as I know. I’ve always said I didn’t know of any, Gov
Palin says there was no list, and the list in circulation looks bogus
because some of the books on it weren’t even published at that time.

Were any books removed?
No. Not as far as I know. The City also says books were never
censored. If you read carefully what I wrote, you will see that I
said that
she “attempted” to censor the books, not that she actually was
able
to.

What does Palin say?
Conflicting things. At the time that all this happened, Palin
acknowledged to both of the local newspapers that she had asked the
librarian
about removing books from the library; she said that her questions
were
“rhetorical”. However, ABC News broadcast video of her telling
Charles Gibson that all of this was an “old wives tale” and I
have
been told that she is telling people around Wasilla that this whole
library story is B.S.

What remains in dispute?
Mayor Palin’s motives for discussing censorship of the library
collection remain in dispute. She claims her questions were
rhetorical.
They sure didn’t sound rhetorical to me! I foresee no resolution
to
this aspect of the story. Palin also says that the community
reaction
to her attempt to fire the Librarian had nothing to do with the fact
that she fired the Librarian one day and re-hired her the next. (How
often do you hear of a person being fired for a day?)

Palin’s approval rating
Governor Palin is a very attractive, warm person, with lots of
charisma. I think that her high approval ratings are because of that.
On Sept
13, 2008, pro- and anti-Palin rallys were held in Anchorage and the
anti-Palin rally was the larger; some say this is because there had
been
many pro-Palin rallys already.

“Troopergate”
Trooper Wooten (Palin’s ex-brother-in-law) is not anyone’s idea of
a model State Trooper, but I am of the opinion that everyone should be
treated the same. I think it would be wrong for friends and relatives
of the Governor to get special favors, OR be more severely punished.

About aerial wolf-hunting in Alaska.
The recent aerial wolf hunting issue was not about sport hunting. It
was about whether or not only State Fish & Game employees would be
allowed to shoot wolves from planes when there are emergencies and
packs of
wolves are attacking kids and pets. Sarah Palin’s position on this
issue should not, in my opinion, be construed as lacking a proper
“sporting” attitude. This was not a hunting issue; it was a prey
management issue.

Funding for students with Special Needs
It is true that at the encouragement of Gov Palin, the Legislature
increased funding for Special Needs education. When Palin took office
in
2006, the state was spending $27,000 a year per child. The budget she
signed this year raised that funding to $49,000 per child. In three
years, the amount will rise to $74,000, which is roughly equal to the
yearly
per-child cost of educating special needs children. So, yes, there
was an increase, however, since the increase in funding for educating
students with special needs doesn’t yet cover the cost, there will
be no
improvement in services. And, given the inflation we are seeing, by
the time the amount of funding covers the current cost, the cost will
be higher! (The deficit in funding is made up by shifting funds for
general education to special needs education.)

Various questions
I’ve been repeatedly asked if I could verify the accuracy of a
racist, sexist comment that is being attributed to Palin. I cannot
either
confirm or deny that she made this crude comment.

Yes, her husband is part Native Alaskan.

Wasilla has a strong mayor form of government; the mayor is full-time.

Forwarding/editing/blogging.
Yes, you may forward my email to your friends and others who you think
might be interested in its contents. I would prefer if you didn't
change it or edit it in any way.

If you want something shorter, write your own white paper and put YOUR
name on it.

I remain very conflicted about giving permission to post my email on a
website. I don’t have time to check out all the blogs and websites
which have requested permission to post it. Yet, I don’t want to
penalize the considerate and conscientious people who ASK when so many
(800+ I’m told) have not. So, I am not going to give permission,
but I
am also not going to do anything if someone posts it without my
permission, either. How you introduce what you post will influence
how it is
read. I tried to write a balanced piece; I hope you will respect that
and not cast it as a Palin slam.

I hope that I have adequately answered your questions and been a help
to you in deciding which ticket you want to vote for. In this
imperfect
world there are no perfect candidates--unless one wants to run for
office oneself!

I encourage you to get involved in the campaign of whichever candidate
you support. The best decisions are made when people are informed and
everyone participates.

Anne Kilkenny
Sept. 15, 2008